Formal Report Draft
In Unit Three, we conducted the research necessary to write the draft of the formal report, based on the proposal and outline written in Unit Two.
Conducting the research was straightforward, as it consisted of sending out the surveys and conducting the interview using the questions already approved. In my experience, setting firm deadlines for responses dependent on other people greatly help with turnaround time. This proved to be true as I was able to collect most responses within two days of the survey being sent out. Upon reviewing the survey results, I learned that questions which allow for custom user input should be used carefully. For one of my survey questions related to optimal hours worked per week, I allowed for a user to enter their own response if it was not part of the pre-listed options. Some survey respondents opted to use the ‘Other’ category for that question to send short answers instead simply defining an hour per week. This made it more difficult to interpret the data. In the future, for this type of question, it would be more efficient to remove the ‘Other’ section and make respondents pick the best answer for them.
The process of drafting the report took longer than expected. This was mainly due to determining how best to keep the report focused on actionable recommendations for the employee (the reader), as opposed to the organization itself. In addition, in my outline from Unit Two, I had planned on exploring more topics than I could reasonably discuss in the formal report while maintaining a narrow enough focus. As a result, I had to deviate from the planned outline, and create simpler one that focused primarily on the survey and interview results and their interpretation. As I prepare for the final draft, I am still striving towards rewriting for conciseness.
Peer Review of Formal Report
In the peer review, I took the very standard approach of organizing my review by the sections used by the reviewee. This enabled me to take a very structured approach in providing feedback on specific sections.
During this review, I found myself relating back to my own report draft quite often. In comparing what was does the same versus what was done differently, this gave me a basis on which I could form my feedback. I noticed the reviewee had made more use of 3rd party research to back up his claims. In forming my final draft, I will likely look at incorporating more 3rd party research, but not to the point of distracting from the original research conducted on my own.
Lastly, the peer review of the formal report helped cement the concept of writing for conciseness and maintaining a YOU attitude in any circumstance. As I was able to identify some potential areas for correction for my reviewee, I am optimistic that this will aid me in revising my own work for the final draft.